Utah 2019: Slopestyle preview

Feb 05, 2019·Freeski Park & Pipe

After one of the most exciting FIS competitions of the season so far went down with the inaugural freeski big air world championships Saturday night at Canyons Village in Park City, freeski action at the Utah 2019 Snowboard, Freestyle and Fresski World Championships now moves to the slopestyle course, where the qualifications are slated to go down on Wednesday, February 6, with the finals following up on Thursday.

Home to some of the best freeskiers in the world, such as Sochi 2014 Olympic slopestyle gold medallist Joss Christiansen and the reigning slopestyle world champion McRae Williams, the Park City snowpark is probably one of the best-known spots in freesking, and the venue is set for its second time hosting FIS world championships competition.

The world championships set-up boasts a line of three jib features followed by three jumps with some of the widest take-offs you’re likely to ever see. With the seemingly limitless rail lines possible, the perfectly-shaped jumps, and a fully stacked field of athletes on hand in Utah, the competition will certainly be one to remember for a long time to come.

On ladies’ side watch out for the Estonian wunderkind Kelly Sildaru, who earlier at Utah 2019 dropped out of the big air competition to focus on the slopestyle and halfpipe events, and whose recent record of success places her firmly amongst the top favourites.

Talking only about the slopestyle events, in 2018/19 alone Sildaru has won the FIS Junior World Ski Championships at Cardrona in August, then came out on top of the World Cup season-opener in Stubai, before topping the field at Dew Tour and, finally, claiming gold at the X-Games in Aspen.

But Sildaru will face strong competition from the Swiss duo of Sarah Hoefflin and Mathilde Gremaud, as the Olympic slopestyle gold and silver medallists from PyeongChang 2018 will be looking for redemption after finishing just off the podium at the big air world champs on Saturday.

Also count on local favourite Maggie Voisin of the USA, Johanne Killi of Norway, the current slopestyle World Cup leader Eileen Gu of USA and the brand new big air World Champion Tess Ledeux of France to be pushing for podiums on Thursday.

Switching to the men’s side of the competition, things will be extremely exciting, with over 50 of the world’s top riders ready to drop in on Tuesday’s qualifications to battle for one of the ten spots available in the finals. And, based on what we witnessed already at Saturday’s big air competition, it’s going to take some otherworldly riding to make it into the Utah 2019 slopestyle finals.

With so many top athletes in possession of such diverse styles of riding, it’s no easy task to call favourites for the podium, as the slightest mistake could end the World Championships dream for even the world’s best. That being said, there are a couple of names likely to assert themselves as top contenders once qualifications get underway.

Some of those to watch out for likely include 2018 Olympic Champion Oyster Braaten of Norway, the Swedish ski machine and the 2019 big air silver medallist Henrik Harlaut, Alex Hall and the reigning World Champion McRae Williams of USA, James Woods of Great Britain, Alex Beaulieu-Marchand and Even McEachran of Canada, as well as Finn Bilous of New Zealand.

That’s just a small sample of those capable of making some noise this week, as there’s a whole slew of other rippers ready to step it up and shine at the pinnacle slopestyle event of the season.

Updated Competition Programme

Wednesday, February 6

9:15 MST - Men’s Qualification - Heat 1 & Heat 2

12:00 MST - Ladies’ Qualification

14:00 MST - Ladies’ and Men’s Slopestyle Finals

Watch live:

ORF Sport + (Austria), CT Sport (Czech Republic), ETV2 & sport.err.ee (Estonia), live-stream on www.areena.yle.fi (Finland), L'Equipe (France), Silk Universal & Silk Sport HD1 (Georgia), Connected TV & online (Great Britain), Ziggo Sport Extra (Netherlands), Polsat Sport Extra (Poland), Match Arena (Russia), SRF (Switzerland), NBC Sports Gold & Olympic Channel (USA).

Live-streaming will be also available on FIS Freestyle Youtube Channel (geo-blocked in countries with exclusive media rights agreement).

2019 World Cup Leaders

Ladies: Eileen Gu (USA)

Men: Max Moffatt (CAN)

2018 Olympic Champions

Ladies: Sarah Hoefflin (SUI)

Men: Oystein Braaten (NOR)

2017 World Champions

Ladies: Tess Ledeux (FRA)

Men: McRae Williams (USA)

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